Friday, October 30, 2009

Bummer

We weren't able to close on our house in Colorado today. It is a little fuzzy to me but it seems as if some documents were delayed getting to where they were needed. A near record snowstorm two days before closing doesn't help either. Not a huge deal as we'll close on Monday. Just a big inconvienince as I had the entire weekend to unload the truck.

Oh well. I seem to remember a crazy snowstorm on an important day 10 years ago and things still worked out in the end.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Closed in MN

It is official, we are no longer owners of our house in Minnesota. The closing on our house in Minnesota went through this morning with only small issues. Most of the problem was flood insurance misunderstandings and confusion but our realtor and insurance agent really came through with a solution. There was a mad scramble by our realtor at the last minute to get some stuff out of the house the buyers wanted removed. I can't say enough about the great service we were given by Duane Bauermeister of Edina Realty.

It was a hard morning for Holly and Lilly leaving the house. Lilly was upset to leave her friends and the neighbor kids were sad as well. Lilly left the house and said, "Goodbye house. Thank you for keeping us safe." How sweet is that?

Now the next step is to get through closing here in Colorado on Friday.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Lilly Has Figured Out Disney Movies

Holly and Lilly watched The Ice Princess this weekend and this conversation happened close to the end:

Lilly: "I know what is going to happen at the end."
Holly: "What?"
Lilly (wispered in Holly's ear): "They’re going to kiss."
Holly: "How do you know?"
Lilly: "Because that is what always happens at the end."

Monday, October 12, 2009

The Boat is Out

I flew back to Minnesota this past weekend to take the boat out of the water and fix a few things around the house. I fixed the garage door in the lower garage (it blew a spring), the thermostat in the basement (it was set to 77 degrees for 7 hours of the day making it 80+ degrees upstairs) and winterized the mower, weedeater and leaf blower.

My friend Rob came over with his 4Runner (ours is in Colorado) to pull the boat out of the river. I got it winterized and put the trailering cover on. It should be ready to pull down to Iowa for the winter.

Holly, Lilly and I went to Serum's in downtown Anoka for the first time for lunch. We watched the Gopher game and I tried their World Famous wings. Mmmmm....hot.

Holly was able to go on a chilly ride with Madonna and Larry on Saturday afternoon. A bunch of friends met at Moonrock after their ride for dinner and some drinks. It was nice to see everyone again. The CrossShark made an appearance after a strong, mid-pack finish in the CX4 race.

On Sunday we carved Lilly's homegrown 37lb pumpkin:


Scooping it out


Here's how the lid goes on.


Scary!

After pumpkin carving we went on a hike in Elm Creek:


The park is beautiful now.


Ninja in the woods.

A nice dinner at Maverick's and then down to the airport. What a great weekend!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Long Time, No Update

It's been a while since I updated. I've been out of town in Atlanta on a project management training trip for the past week. I've also been pretty busy at work and busy in my spare time getting housing paperwork rounded up.

First, a housing update. The people buying our house will close on October 28th. I'll be back in town the weekend before to pre-sign our closing documents allowing our realtor to handle the closing in the middle of the week. I'll drive a UHaul back to Colorado on the 25th. We close on our new house Thursday or Friday of that week. For now Holly and Lilly are planning to stay in Anoka until the first weekend in November so Holly can help her company get through month end before she leaves.

Our new house is a new construction house in Stapleton. Stapleton is a neighborhood in the city of Denver. This is an urban renewal project creating a big new neighborhood where the old Denver airport was located. It is designed as a sustainable community where things are within walking distance and houses are pretty close together. There is some research that shows neighborhoods become very closely knit in situations like this. There are kids everywhere and a lot of the residents are our age. There are neighborhood pools, trails, parks and schools all built with the philosophy of brining the neighborhoods together into one community. I'll post some house pictures shortly.

Last weekend Holly and Lilly did a 45 mile bike ride in northern Minnesota near the headwaters of the Mississippi river. Lilly did great! She was a little cold and hungry at the start but after it warmed up and she ate some food at one of the rest stops she was happy and singing.







This past week Holly and Lilly made some Halloween treats. Marshmallow ghosts and chocolaty treats.